another week another..

[feisar]

..chart :) yay! I bet your all mega excited and cant wait to get stuck into another chart topic.. either that or you accidentily clicked the link thinking this was something good :O

CHART TRACK UK ALL SOFTWARE (ALL PRICES)
WEEK 38 YEAR 2003 ENDING 20TH SEPTEMBER

1 CONFLICT: DESERT STORM II - SCi
2 COLIN MCRAE RALLY 04 - Codemasters
3 STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC - Activision
4 RUGBY 2004 - EA
5 EYE TOY: PLAY - Sony
6 STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHT - JEDI ACADEMY - Activision
7 FIFA 2003 - EA
8 MEDAL OF HONOR: FRONTLINE - EA
9 LORD OF THE RINGS - THE TWO TOWERS - EA
10 THE ITALIAN JOB: L.A. HEIST - Eidos
11 THE GREAT ESCAPE - SCi
12 BEYBLADE: LET IT RIP! - Infogrames
13 POKEMON SAPPHIRE - Nintendo
14 TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON-ISLAND THUNDER - Ubi Soft
15 JAMES BOND 007: NIGHTFIRE - EA
16 HARRY POTTER - CHAMBER OF SECRETS - EA
17 NORTON ANTIVIRUS 2004 - Norton
18 THE SIMS - EA
19 TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER 4 - Activision
20 MADDEN NFL 2004 - EA
21 GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY - TAKE2
22 BURNOUT 2: POINT OF IMPACT - Acclaim
23 SIMPSONS: ROAD RAGE - EA
24 DRIVING TEST SUCCESS 2003/2004 - Focus
25 GOLDEN SUN 2: THE LOST AGE - Nintendo
26 DARK CHRONICLE - Sony
27 POKEMON RUBY - Nintendo
28 MICROSOFT OFFICE XP STUDENT EDITION - Microsoft
29 THE SIMS: SUPERSTAR - EA
30 TOMB RAIDER: THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS - Eidos
31 ENTER THE MATRIX - Infogrames
32 CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 4 - Eidos
33 TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL - Ubi soft
34 THEME PARK WORLD - EA
35 DANCING STAGE PARTY EDITION - Konami
36 SOCOM: US NAVY SEALS - Sony
37 CRASH BANDICOOT - WRATH OF CORTEX - Vivendi
38 MEDIEVAL: TOTAL WAR - Activision
39 TEKKEN 4 - Sony
40 SIM CITY 3000 - EA

- Conflict Desert Storm II suprises and takes the no1 slot, its amazing how Pivotal Games have had a number one hit and a number two hit while in liquidation. The company is currently the strongest UK developer in terms of sales and global success yet may be forced to close unless someone steps in.
- Mucho starwars and less EA crap fills the chart.
- Golden Sun 2 flops. Perhaps if nintendo had been bothered to release the game a year and a half ago, like they did everywhere else then people might have cared.
- Norton Antivirus is still flying off the shelves, unlike pokemon which is struggling thanks to nintendo not releasing the game a year ago and not spending any money on marketing.
- Okay I'll stop with the snide remarks about the general useless nature of nintendo of europe. If only to mention how Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness has been embarressingly slipping down the chart. Heh Heh Heh in your face eidos.
- Next week sees more big releases, the biggest being Soul Calibur 2. Namco have had six months to convert the game, yet according to the reviews so far, the PAL version has been messed up seriously. With overlapping voiceovers *gasp - how could they* and the entire AI being re-written (wrong) for the PAL market.
- Also generic but midly amusing FPS titles Warhammer 4000 and Mace Griffin are out next week. Along with the supposedly good Freedom Fighters. The GBA Kirby game that came out everywhere else two years ago. Frequency sequel, amplitude and the potentually ace.. space colony for PC...

[twifkak]

Eye-Toy et mort! Vive Eye-Toy!

[Firefoot]

Eye-Toy et mort! Vive Eye-Toy!
It was one of the first things I noticed too... Eye-Toy is loosing ground! :)

I think Nintendo will be higher in the list if Mario Kart is released half November... But probably for a few weeks... at most... :eek:

[Garyos]

- Next week sees more big releases, the biggest being Soul Calibur 2. Namco have had six months to convert the game, yet according to the reviews so far, the PAL version has been messed up seriously. With overlapping voiceovers *gasp - how could they* and the entire AI being re-written (wrong) for the PAL market.

SHIAT! :eek:

You have to tell me if this is true when it comes out, Feisar, because I was really really really looking forward to this... Haven't bought a GC game since....... ............ ............ FOREVER.

[SamandMax]

Freedom Fighters is supposed to be really good. Gamespot gave the PS2 version a 9.3.

[feisar]

I'm getting it this weekend so I'll let you know garyos if it is messed up.

Apparently the Japanese scene complained the game was too easy, so namco ripped out the entire AI code and replaced it with something with nowhere near as much depth and that is fundamentally broken making the game stupidly hard/frustraiting. I really hope this isnt the case :'(

Eye-toy has slipped slightly because of the new releases but its still doing really well, especially condering it was a lower profile title out the same week as Tomb Raider which is now at no30.

[Garyos]

This (http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/september03/simpsonshrgcn/) looks like a match made in heaven. :eek:

Do you know when it's out in Europe, feis?

[bigjko]

Bloody Hell!!!

Oh, well, I still have Soul Calibur 1 to enjoy. When is Mario Kart coming out?

[James]

fifa 2003 at no. 7? sure, 2004 will be out in weeks. :rolleyes:

[feisar]

Fifa 2003 has recently gone budget on PS2, GC and Xbox.. hence the sales spike.

Mario Kart is out towards the end of november.. Viewtiful Joe is the next must buy GC game on PAL and its out in a few weeks time... F-Zero GX is out next month too :)

Simpsons Hit and Run :O I have a mortal fear of licenced based games.. its currently down for release on the 7th of November for Gamecube.

[feisar]

Opinion seems to be split over Soul Calibur 2.. Some websites are giving quite poor reviews (60%) and saying the game has been broken in its conversion to PAL while others are giving 90+ scores and saying the changes are for the better.

It seems the PAL version is difficault with shallow AI while the NTSC versions are easier with deep AI..

---------------

also Empire are bucking the trend for bankcrupcy and have posted a profit:


UK publisher Empire Interactive has announced its figures for the first half of 2003, revealing a move back into profitability for the company on the back of record half-year revenues.

Empire recorded turnover of £15.7 million for the six months ended June 30th, a rise of some 40 per cent over the same period last year. As a result, it was able to post a pre-tax profit of £228,000 - a turnaround from a loss of over £1.5 million in 2002.

The company's success was helped significantly by the strong performance of two of its key titles in the period, with 70's TV show based title Starsky & Hutch reaching number four in the UK charts, while Big Mutha Truckers hit number six in the US charts.

The company is now looking forward optimistically to the second half of 2003 and into 2004, and according to CEO Ian Higgins, Empire has an exciting portfolio of titles and intellectual property which will appear during that period - including recent license wins for Bad Boys II, Starship Troopers and Ford Racing 2.

"We now have an exciting portfolio of games and IP that we strive constantly to improve," according to Higgins. "We are working with some excellent development studios, both in-house and third party, and continue to partner with the best distribution companies to ensure every facet of the production process, from initial concept to sales, is as good as it can be."

[James]

eh gods! uk publisher in good news story shocker! good to see. twas empire that published the longest journey in the uk/eire, lest we forget. id imagine there will be a lot of publisher consolidation/merger in the next few years, and eventually leave us with a half dozen huge companies.